Methods for loading a standard ATM cell with multiplexed connections in the form of micro-frames including data shorter than the standard ATM cell are variously proposed, and one of them is disclosed, for example, in Japanese patent application No. 7-266039, "Short cell multiplexed ATM transmission system and transmission method", which was filed by the assignee of the present invention and now abandoned without publication by refiling as Japanese Patent Application No. 8-52169 on Mar. 8, 1996. The assignee of the. present application filed U.S. National Phase Application 08/966,862 of PCT Application PCT/JP96/02954, coaiming convention priority of the Japanese Patnet Application No. 8-52169. However, the inventors of the present invention do not know any concrete configuration designed for multiplexing the micro-frames, and for carrying out its control and fast processing thereof in a multiplex transmitter that performs multiplexing of the micro-frames.
The object of the present invention is to provide a concrete configuration of a high speed multiplexed transmitter for loading standard ATM cells with a plurality of connections in the form of micro-frames including data shorter than the standard ATM cell.
Another object of the present invention is to achieve effective multiplex transmission processing by incorporating two buffers, a buffer for deciding micro-frames to be multiplexed and a transmission queuing buffer, into a single queuing buffer.
Still another object of the present invention is to achieve quality management of micro-frame connections having multiple qualities concerning a tolerable multiplexing wait time or a micro-frame cancellation ratio, and to implement multiplex transmission processing at high efficiency.